Mystery US survey among Muslims in Kerala raises brows

New Delhi, Nov. 5: The Kerala government has asked the Centre to "unravel the mystery" behind a US-funded survey being done in a Muslim-dominated area of the state capital.

Conducted by UK-based market research group Taylor Nelson Sofres and funded by Washington's Princeton Survey Research Associates, the survey has asked several communally sensitive questions, some of them aimed exclusively at Muslims.

Of its 93 questions, over half have sought answers from Muslims on issues such as their opinion of the Barack Obama administration, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, West Asia, Israel and Bangladeshi Muslims

The questionnaire has also sought to know their opinion of the Indian government and its military, where they would prefer to live other than India, if the Sharia should be made the basis of the Indian Constitution and Osama bin Laden. A section meant exclusively for Muslim women has asked questions on the burqa and what life in India is like.